Some Ground Support Considerations in Rapid Excavation

Some Ground Support Considerations in Rapid Excavation
for Mining Development

1
E Villaescusa , A Thompson and C Windsor
ABSTRACT
There is a need for faster development in deep underground mines. Effective, long
service life ground support is one of the critical components of development. It is also
highly desirable that ground support is installed in one pass. One of the difficulties in
deeper development is the possibility of higher stresses causing brittle intact rock failure
accompanied by a sudden release of energy. This requires higher force capacity
reinforcement systems than those used at shallower depths. Some of the issues
associated with both reinforcement and surface support are presented and discussed.
The recent trend towards use of resin anchored rock bolts is addressed more specifically
because of the historically poor implementation of these bolts in underground
metalliferous mines. Overcoring and testing of these types of bolts have been used to
investigate issues related to quality of mixing and load transfer. These investigations
have shown there is variable quality for different bolts and variability in load transfer
along the length of individual bolts. Greater automation of equipment is one of the
potential solutions to the variable performance of resin anchored rock bolts. Automation
could be used to control variables such as rotational speed, advance of the bolt down the
borehole and the optimum spin and hold times.
INTRODUCTION
In the current economic climate, there is a clear need for rapid development to exploit deep orebodies
using underground mining methods. In the 1980s and early 1990s, rapid underground development at
relatively shallow depths was largely achieved through effective scaling and the installation of friction
rock stabilisers with plates. Since that time, mines have progressed to greater depths and higher stress.
Also, in Western Australia, in the absence of geotechnical advice to the contrary, the need for surface
support at wall and back heights greater than 3.5 m was introduced (DOMEWA, 1999). At that time,
welded wire mesh restrained by friction rock stabilisers was the generally accepted form of ground
support. The need to restrain and overlap mesh at strategic points led to an estimated 40 per cent
increase in the number of rock bolts being used; or even as high as 50 per cent (CIA, 1990). Figure 1
confirms these assertions. Most of the extra number of bolts are not required for internal reinforcement
of the rock according to well-established design guidelines based on precedent experience (eg
pioneering work of the Snowy Mountains Authority (Lang, 1960) and subsequently expanded and
summarised by Farmer and Shelton (1980) and Choquet and Hadjigeorgiou (1993)).
More recently, fibre reinforced shotcrete has been used as the primary surface support system
followed shortly by bolts and plates. Without the restriction of mesh sheet sizes, bolts may be installed
at wider spacings without compromising the reinforcement demand of the rock mass (eg see Figure 2).
A more recent trend is for shotcrete to be used for temporary surface support and also to maintain the
overall stability of the rock mass (eg Dimmock et al, 2003 and Rispin et al, 2003) and its placement
robotically (Runciman et al, 1999). That is, substantial cost savings can be made in the development
1.
Western Australian School of Mines, Locked Bag 22, Kalgoorlie WA 6433.
Australian Mining Technology Conference
26 - 27 September 2006
65
E VILLAESCUSA, A THOMPSON and C WINDSOR
cycle if re-entry times after spraying the shotcrete can be reduced and the installation of rock bolts
delayed until after the face has advanced several cuts. However, there are numerous issues associated
with the strategy of relying on shotcrete alone to maintain the rock mass stability. Some of these issues
will be presented and discussed.
FIG 1 - Excessive number of rock bolts due to meshing requirements.
FIG 2 - Decline support consisting of fibre reinforced shotcrete followed by rock bolting.
A major issue with respect to rapid development is the need for a one pass system of ground support
with a long service life, particularly in single heading, permanent infrastructure such as declines and
haulage development at greater depths. The commercially available systems that can provide
immediate reinforcement include:
friction coupled systems friction rock stabilisers (eg Split Set) or Swellex,
point anchored systems mechanical or resin anchors,
point anchored full and column cement grouted systems, and
full column resin grouted systems.
The systems identified above can all be mechanised and installed in one pass. Each system has
advantages and disadvantages, which must be understood prior to implementation.
66
SOME GROUND SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS IN RAPID EXCAVATION
Studies undertaken by various workers have shown that one pass, friction rock stabilisers may have
limited serviceability in the corrosive environments associated with many mines (eg Ranasooriya et al,
1995). Swellex bolts may be susceptible to corrosion, have low shear strength and may be difficult to
install with mesh. Point anchored systems are also susceptible to corrosion and may become loose due
to nearby blasting. Other one pass systems such as the Kiruna bolt system (cement grouted wedge
anchored bolt) or point anchored grouted (PAG) bolt require cement grout to be mixed in small
quantities and pumped at the active face. These systems are accepted in civil engineering tunnelling but
are not widely used in Australia with the exception of Mount Isa Mines (Potvin et al, 1999). Systems
such as the hollow groutable bolt (HGB) and the CT bolt that require a second stage of cement grouting
have not been consistently implemented successfully in many mines. The lack of a management system
to ensure that the second stage of installation (ie encapsulation with cement grout) was completed has
resulted in large numbers of bolts being ungrouted and therefore susceptible to corrosion. The penalties
for this mismanagement have resulted in rock falls and widespread instability that have required costly
campaigns of rehabilitation.
The current industry trend is to attempt once again to introduce one pass resin anchored rock bolts to
the underground metalliferous industry. Despite the widespread and apparently successful use of these
bolts in underground coal mines, the metalliferous mining industry has encountered many difficulties
(Grice, 1986) over many years since these bolts were first developed in the 1960s. Currently, the WA
School of Mines is using overcoring at many mines to sample, observe and test the quality of
installation of these resin anchored rock bolts (Varden and Villaescusa, 2006).
THE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE

The development cycle has been variously defined by many previous works. An example is given in
Figure 3. This simple representation of the cycle does not well represent the time and costs associated
with development. In particular, it does not reflect the subcomponents of the cycle or the complexity of
a particular task. It also does not take into account the different equipment required and how they
interact with each other, particularly in a single development heading situation such as a decline. For
example, consider the interactions involved with the following equipment developing a single access
decline; long round drilling jumbo, explosives loading basket and IT (or custom vehicle), bogger,
truck, shotcrete spraying equipment, concrete agitator truck and ground support installation jumbo (for
rock bolts and possibly mesh). Managing the interactions between all this equipment to avoid delays is
not a trivial task. The creation of stock piles in appropriate size and number would be critical in
maximising the advance rate.
Services
Face
Drilling
Face
Charging
Ground
Support
Scaling
Mucking and
Haulage
FIG 3 - A simple representation of the development cycle.
67
In order to more fully appreciate the potential conflicts and problems associated with rapid
development, an alternative representation of the development cycle is given in Figure 4. In this
representation, the heights of the cylinders are proportional to time and costs, respectively. The costs
are only associated with the direct development and do not include lost opportunity costs associated
with delays in production.
Total mining cycle
Face drilling
Charging
blasting
Time lost
Ventilation
Scaling
Surveying
Rock
reinforcement
Shotcrete support
Mucking
FIG 4 - A more complex representation of the development cycle in terms of time (Atlas Copco, 2000).
REQUIREMENTS FOR RAPID DEVELOPMENT

There are many objectives that need to be met for successful rapid development. Some of these
objectives are:
selection of equipment size that is appropriate to the orebody characteristics;
the use of longer rounds (eg AMIRA 1996);

reduced overbreak in development;
accurate drilling;
elimination of butts;
faster explosive loading systems;
improved fragmentation for ease of mucking;
parallel activities (eg installation of services and secondary pass reinforcement activity such as
grouting);
rapid, mechanised scaling (eg hydro-scaling, Jenkins et al, 2004);

one pass support and reinforcement installation;
scheduling of equipment interactions (drilling, explosives loading, mucking, shotcreting, meshing,
bolting, services);
68
optimisation of mesh sheet (or roll) widths and lengths;

scheduling of second pass support and reinforcement (if any);
elimination of manual handling;
automation of activities to improve quality assurance; and
use of specialised equipment.
One of the major impediments to rapid development is the installation of high quality ground
support in a single pass. In particular, the installation of ground support that remains effective for the
service life of the excavation, as ground conditions change due to mining.
GROUND SUPPORT
Ground support is the combination of surface support and rock reinforcement. Installation of surface
support, particularly mesh, is one of the main activities that slows the traditional development cycle.
Current practices exacerbate the problem through:
The use of standard sized mesh sheets that generally do not match the excavation size and advance
rate.
Using a drilling jumbo that is not designed to handle mesh sheets and install reinforcement. This is
particularly so for systems other than friction bolts (commonly incorrectly called Split Sets which
is a proprietary product name). Other reinforcement systems have components that are susceptible
to damage when they pass through the mesh into the borehole (eg expansion shells or resin
cartridges). Difficulties also arise regarding the controlled application of rotation to achieve anchor
setting (ie expansion shell) or mixing (ie resin cartridge) and to pull a plate and the mesh tight
against the rock face with tension developed in the reinforcement.
Sprayed coatings (ie thin sprayed liners or TSLs) and layers (ie shotcrete) have been proposed as
one way of eliminating mesh from the development cycle. The writers do not advocate the use of
currently available TSLs. However, shotcrete may be viable under certain circumstances (eg good
quality massive rock) with strict quality control on rock surface preparation (eg water jet scaling as
shown in Figure 5), supply of concrete, placement and curing. All these circumstances need to be
satisfied in order to attempt assurance that minimum values of adhesion and shear strength of the
shotcrete layer are achieved. A current research project at the WA School of Mines is investigating the
various aspects of this application of shotcrete.
FIG 5 - Water jet scaling system prior to shotcrete applications.
69
It is anticipated that mesh will continue to be used in most mines for surface support until some
guidelines are developed for the use of shotcrete alone for rock support as part of the mining cycle. If
this is the case, then there are at least two steps that can be considered to improve productivity and rate
of development:
1. the use of mesh sheet sizes suited to the advance rate, and
2. the use of one-pass bolting systems.
While it may not seem logical to reduce the mesh width, the number of bolts can be reduced by
allowing for a wider pattern of bolts. Currently, bolts are used to pin the standard 2.4 m wide sheets
mid-span and this results in a bolting ring spacing of about 1.1 m. Another issue is that standard 2.4 m
wide sheets of mesh and commonly used cut advance lengths are incompatible. The use of narrower
sheets (say 1.7 m wide) for cut lengths of about 2.8 m would allow bolt spacings to be increased to
1.4 m with an approximate 25 per cent saving in the number of bolts installed with only about six per
cent increase in the mesh used.
REINFORCEMENT
Reinforcement systems will continue to play a significant role in any ground support strategy and
implementation. A number of commercially available bolting systems that can be considered to be one
pass mechanical installation as required for rapid development have been listed previously. In order to
improve longevity in corrosive environments, it is possible to delay a second pass activity such as
cement grouting of Split Sets or groutable expansion shell anchored bolts (eg Stelpipe, HGB and CT
Bolt) so that this activity is not directly involved in the development cycle. The mismanagement of this
secondary activity has been clearly demonstrated to be a major problem in all mines.
The following sections describe the various bolting systems and their potential applicability to rapid
development. In particular, resin anchored rock bolts have been investigated by overcoring and
associated laboratory testing has been used to quantify their performance.
Friction rock stabilisers

The friction rock stabiliser consists of a hollow rolled tube (with a slot along its entire length) which is
driven into a drilled hole of smaller diameter. When left ungrouted, it relies on friction between the tube
and the rock to provide reinforcement (see Figure 6). One critical limitation of ungrouted friction bolts
is that although the bolts are simple and quick to install (while standing up to blast vibrations relatively
well), they have a very low initial bond strength per metre of embedment length. A capacity of
approximately four to five tonnes per metre of embedment has been established for 46 - 47 mm
diameter elements. This may be insufficient to guarantee effective reinforcement of wedges, blocks
and slabs potentially formed within the immediate back of the excavations.
The initial bond strength is developed during bolt insertion, where the borehole tolerance with
respect to bolt diameter is small and is likely to control the available frictional forces along the bolt
length. In soft ground the driving time to completely install a bolt is sometimes reduced, indicating
even lower initial bond strength per metre of embedment length.
Another disadvantage is that if shear occurs across the borehole in which a split tube rock bolt has
been installed, then sliding in the deeper anchor region may be prevented and the rock mass movement
may be sufficient to cause the welded ring to be sheared off with loss of the plate at the collar. Also, it is
important to note that split tube bolts cannot provide active restraint at the collar. Over-hammering by
jumbo during installation may cause damage to both the welded ring and the domed plate and cracking
of the rock behind the plate with subsequent spalling from near the collar.
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FIG 6 - Section view showing installation of friction bolt stabiliser.
Swellex
The Swellex bolt consists of a folded thin-wall tube with bushings welded onto both ends of the bolt (Li
and Hkansson, 1999). One of the bushings has a small hole through which water is injected at high
pressure to expand the bolt inside the borehole (see Figure 7). During this expansion, the Swellex bolt
compresses against the rock, while adapting its shape to fit the irregularities of the borehole.
High
pressure
water
FIG 7 - Longitudinal and cross-sectional view of Swellex bolt during installation.
The bolt is thin and may be susceptible to corrosion, especially in boreholes that dip below the
horizontal and consequently may remain full of water after installation. The system has low shear
strength and due to interlocking with the surrounding rock may develop a very high load transfer over
very short bolt lengths leading to tensile failure. However, bond strength and stiffness can be modified
by changing the installation pressure.
71
Wedge bolt and Kiruna bolt

The wedge bolt was one of the first bolts developed for use in tunnels forming the Snowy Mountains
hydro electric scheme (see Figure 8). The principle of installation is to hammer the bar and wedge
against the end of the borehole. The wedge causes expansion of the bar to anchor against the borehole
wall. Although this bolt is quick and easy to install by mechanical bolters and jumbos, it is highly
susceptible to corrosion and unable to work in soft rock masses.
FIG 8 - Deformed bar with wedge.
The Kiruna bolt system comprises a slot and wedge bolt which is also fixed in the borehole with
cement grout. The cement grout is pumped into the borehole prior to the bolt being inserted in the
borehole. The bolt consists of a deformed bar with a cut or rolled thread on one end and a slot cut in the
other end. A tapered wedge is inserted into this slot and tack welded to the bolt as shown in Figure 9. At
the threaded end, a nut and spherical washer are provided. The slot and wedge are designed to form an
internal fixture between the bar and the borehole wall. The spherical washer is used with a domed plate
to provide restraint at the collar of the borehole. The bolt in this configuration is fixed to the rock only at
the ends of the bolt but provides support to the rock immediately after installation.
FIG 9 - Kiruna bolt cement grouted wedge bolt.
The available immediate reinforcement is related to the rock strength around the wedge (ie the
anchor strength may be very low in soft rock). Corrosion protection and continuous load transfer from
the rock to the bolt are provided only after the cement grout has cured. A number of problems with this
type of bolt have been documented by Mount Isa Mines (Potvin et al, 1999).
Expansion shell anchored rock bolt and PAG bolt

These discrete frictionally coupled elements consist of 16 - 25 mm diameter steel bars (of varying
lengths) which are installed with point anchor expansion shells in conjunction with face plates (see
Figure 10). The tension to the bolt is provided by tightening a nut, hemispherical washer and a plate
against the rock on the exposed end of the bolt. Mechanically anchored bolts, made of appropriate
materials with smooth surfaces, should be capable of providing very reliable anchorage in hard rock
applications where the rock mass has a high uniaxial compressive strength.
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Expansion shell
Bolt
Hemispherical plate
Hardened washer
Nut
FIG 10 - Components of an expansion shell rock bolt.
One of the main disadvantages of mechanically anchored rock bolts is that if the anchor slips or the
rock breaks around the plate, the capacity of the bolt drops to zero and the rock around the bolt can fail.
In some cases, short threaded lengths (at the plate end) make the tightening of plates against the rock
very difficult, especially with uneven rock faces. The standard point anchor systems can be susceptible
to corrosion and may not be effective in heavily broken rock masses where a reliable point anchor can
not be formed.
The initial bolt installation can be mechanised to provide an immediate reinforcement of
approximately ten to 15 tonnes. However, because of the short internal coupling, the actual point anchor
strength is limited by the strength of the rock around the borehole (eg see Figure 11). Point anchored bolts
tend to slip progressively due to blast vibrations when installed very close to an active face.
The point anchored grouted (PAG) bolt is ultimately a cement grouted bar which uses an expansion
shell as a temporary point anchor. Cement is pumped up the hole and the bolt is then pushed through the
grout mix. The bolt is tensioned during installation and provides a reinforcing effect while the cement
grout cures.
The system installation can be mechanised using Atlas Copco and Tamrock bolting rigs. High
installation rates have been reported by Mount Isa Mines. The system allows for the mechanical
installation of mesh at the same time as the bolt installation. One disadvantage is that in soft rock the
initial anchorage may be low (<4 tonnes) and may give a false sense of security prior to adequate
strength development in the grout.
Resin anchored rock bolt

In cases where a rock mass is soft or where immediate reinforcement is needed such as in rapid mine
development, chemical resins can be used to anchor a bolt to the ground. In order to install rock bolts that
are coupled with resin along their entire length, it is necessary to insert multiple resin cartridges (capsules)
into the borehole with sufficient volume of resin to fill the annulus between the rock bolt and the borehole.
73
Cannington Mine
CT Bolts 3m long
Load (tonnes)
Kanowna Belle Mine

CT Bolts 2.4m long
25
25
20
20
15
15
10
10
FW conglomerate
FW conglomerate
FW conglomerate
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Schist
Pegmatite
FW Zinc
0
0
Displacement (mm)
10
20
30
40
50
60
Displacement (mm)
FIG 11 - Load-displacement response for ungrouted, expansion shell anchored bolts.
Usually, a single fast/medium spin/set time (15 - 30 seconds) cartridge is inserted into the borehole first
followed by a number of slow set time (>120 seconds) cartridges. The objective is to be able to spin the
bolt and create an initial anchorage at the toe end, then pause to allow the fast resin to set and then apply
more jumbo rotation to the nut to create tension in the bar prior to the slow set resin hardening.
Figure 12 shows some typical elements with their resin mixing devices used in the Australian hard
rock underground mining industry. The Posimix system is designed to push the resin cartridge plastic
to the top of the hole. Additionally, the system allows the bolt to be centrally located in the hole
allowing even distribution and mixing of the resin. The concept of the paddles that are sheared into the
bolt is to shred the plastic resin cartridge and aid the mixing of the resin during installation.
FIG 12 - Typical bolt profiles and mixing devices. Top down: 20 mm Posimix bolt, 24 mm Posimix bolt,
24 mm Secura bolt, 27 mm Secura bolt.
74
Experience from in situ pull testing has indicated that high transfer loads can be achieved over short
embedment lengths using resins (capacity greater than ten to 12 tonnes per 0.3 - 0.5 metre of
embedment). However, major problems that have been identified through overcoring of resin anchored
rock bolts are the inconsistent quality of the resin encapsulation and the variability of the load transfer
along the length of the bolt (Villaescusa et al, 2006). Another major issue that appears to occur,
particularly with large diameter cartridges in large diameter boreholes and small diameter bars, is the
phenomenon known as gloving (Mould et al, 2004).
In addition, in-the-hole mixing of resins is susceptible to either underspin or overspin.
Under-spinning can result in low grout strength, often at the deeper end of the hole, which in extreme
cases will never set. Over-spinning during installation can result in shearing of the resin, thus reducing
the bonded area. In cases where resin is to be used, controlled field testing is recommended before a full
scale bolting campaign is implemented (Stjern and Myrvang, 1997; Varden and Villaescusa, 2006).
BOLT OVERCORING
The performance and ultimate capacity of a reinforcement scheme can be affected by substandard
installation practices. In most cases, however, faulty installations are difficult to detect given that the
only visible part of an installed element is the plate, nut and a short length of the bolt indicating the
orientation of installation with respect to an excavation wall. As an example, for a fully encapsulated
cement or resin grouted rebar, it is very difficult to determine the bonded length (effective bolt
encapsulation) along the entire axis of the bolt. Because a full bolt capacity may be mobilised with very
short embedment lengths of good quality grout, pull testing of exposed collar lengths within a fully
(resin or cement) grouted element is almost meaningless.
Pull testing as suggested by The International Society of Rock Mechanics (Brown, 1978) is only
applicable to ungrouted point anchor and friction/Swellex bolts. For fully encapsulated elements, the
method only provides an indication of grout effectiveness at the collar or at the first (unknown) location
along the bolt axis where the grout is effectively working. For fully grouted elements, pull testing only
provides a definite indication of poor installation in cases where the entire length of encapsulated
reinforcement fails well below its designed capacity.
WASM overcoring rig

The in situ conditions along the entire length of a fully encapsulated rock bolt can be examined by
recovering the complete element. This process is called bolt overcoring and this allows not only the
recovery of the element, but also provides a clear view of the surrounding rock mass and a better
understanding of the rock bolt system/rock mass interaction. Research at the WA School of Mines
(WASM) has resulted in the development of a versatile overcoring system capable of drilling at any
orientation (360) and overcoring reinforcement lengths up to 3 m (Hassell and Villaescusa, 2005).
Overcoring of in situ bolts can be undertaken in the walls and backs to a collar height of 5 - 7 m.
Overcoring procedure
The overcoring procedure involves both field and laboratory components.
The field components are:
mobilisation of overcoring rig,
selection of bolts,
overcoring and recovery of core, and
transport of core to WASM laboratory.
75
The laboratory components are:
inspection, photographing and recording of core details,

selection of sections of core for pull or push testing,
preparation of core for testing,
testing, and
reporting.
The following sections describe the various components of the overcoring procedure and the details
and interpretation of the results obtained for resin anchored rock bolts. The implications for future
implementation of resin anchored rock bolts will also be discussed.
Field activities
The WASM rig is shown drilling in Figure 13. Careful drilling and suitable penetration rates are
chosen, so that the recovered 140 mm diameter core undergoes minimal disturbance even in very poor
rock masses that have been reinforced using friction stabilisers (eg Figure 14).
FIG 13 - WASM bolt overcoring operations.
FIG 14 - Overcored friction bolts in very poor rock masses.
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Bolt overcoring provides a range of information including the location and frequency of geological
discontinuities, overall rock mass conditions, bolt encapsulation, load transfer along the bolt axis and
corrosion effects (Hassell and Villaescusa, 2005).
Overcoring in broken ground or shear zones shows that very little resin migration occurs in
jumbo-installed resin bolts. The resin simply fills the annulus between the bolt and the borehole.
Because of its viscosity, the resin is unable to penetrate the rock mass fissures and voids. In
comparison, significant cement migration has been observed during overcoring of cement grouted
bolts in poor ground conditions (see Figure 15). The degree of rock mass interlocking using cement
grout is superior compared to that achieved by resin grouting or friction stabilisers. Interlocking around
an underground excavation has been suggested as an important mechanism to allow the rock mass to be
self-supporting (Windsor and Thompson, 1993).
FIG 15 - Overcored resin (left) and cement grouted (right) bolts in very poor rock masses.
Following overcoring, laboratory testing can be used to assess the performance in terms of
encapsulation quality and load transfer of any recovered bolt-rock mass sections. The overcored
samples are geologically mapped and appropriate sections are cut from the sample to test the
force-displacement characteristics. In general, a force-displacement curve provides an indication of
stiffness, peak and residual forces, as well as the displacement capacity for the embedment length
tested. The results can be used as a relative measure of load transfer (installation quality and bolt
effectiveness) along a bolt axis. The concepts of load transfer and embedment length are critical to the
understanding of any force-deformation results (Windsor and Thompson, 1993).
In general, push tests and pull tests are used to determine encapsulation quality and relative load
transfer along a bolt axis. Push tests are expected to provide a different response to pull tests. During
push testing (Aziz, 2004) the steel bar is compressed into the sample, while in pull testing the bar is
tested in tension. An advantage of push testing is that it allows several tests to be carried out along a
single bolt axis. A disadvantage is that a push test is likely to over-estimate the stiffness and
peak/residual loads. However, provided the push testing is carried out for similar embedment lengths,
the results can be used as a relative measure of load transfer along the bolt axis.
77
The typical embedment length used for meaningful push/pull testing is usually set at 300 - 500 mm.
However, the total sample length required for a push test is 400 mm, while for a typical pull test the
sample length required ranges from 700 - 1000 mm. For a 2.4 m long bolt, it is possible to select up to
five samples for push testing and usually two for pull testing. This allows the variability of
encapsulation and relative load transfer along the entire bolt axis to be well established.
In preparation for push/pull testing, some of the rock is removed from the overcore, leaving a
section of the element partly exposed (see Figure 16). The remaining rock/element section is then
confined in a metal jacket (see Figure 17) to simulate the radial confinement provided by the rock mass
in situ (Hyett et al, 1992). The exposed section of the element is then pushed or pulled. A plate is used to
restrict the movement of the confined 300 - 500 mm long portion of bolt/rock. The force required to
push or pull the element through the rock, and the element displacement are digitally recorded (see
Figure 18).
FIG 16 - Prepared short sections of overcored bolts prior to pull testing.
a) Hollow groutable bolt
b) Plain cablebolt
FIG 17 - Radial confinement of the samples prior to push (a) and pull (b) testing.
78
160
Push test - 300 mm embedment length
140
Load
Displacement
Load (kN)
120
100
80
60
Sample ID & location along bolt axis
3A 0.00 0.30m
40
3B 0.40 0.70m
20
3C 0.80 1.10m
Push test arrangement
3D 1.20 1.50m
0
0
10
12
14
16
18
Displacement (mm)
FIG 18 - Typical push test arrangement and results for cement grouted HGB bolts.
Following pull testing, the elements are inspected and photographed. Figure 19 shows an example
of tested resin grouted bolts. Where the load transfer was effective, failure of the short resin bolt
embedment occurred at the resin/rock interface. The frictional resistance was mobilised by shearing of
the resin irregularities at the resin/rock interface. However, when the resin encapsulation was poor,
failure at the bolt/resin interface was experienced. This implies poor installation practices or excessive
hole diameter leading to unsatisfactory mixing of the resin.
a) Failure at resin-rock
interface
b) Failure at bolt gloving

interface
c) Sideway displacement
of resin
FIG 19 - Example of effective load transfer (a), and low strength due to excessive gloving by the resin cartridge
(b and c).
79
Overcored samples along the axis of a hole can be used to determine the load transfer variability
within similar embedment lengths collected from key regions of a bolt. For resin grouted bolts, the
overcored data shows that similar strengths were found for the collar and toe regions, with increased
strengths for the middle regions where resin mixing appear to be more effective (Villaescusa et al, 2006).
Implications of using resin anchored rock bolts for rapid development

There is a clear need for controlled and more consistent installation procedures. Some of the problems
identified are:
operators are able to modify the installation procedure without proper guidance and consultation;
for example, bit diameters may be arbitrarily increased from 32 mm to 35 mm;
lack of control on borehole depth (eg Figure 20);
lack of control on bolt alignment with the borehole;
it is normal practice to drill all the boreholes and then to return to a previously drilled borehole to
install the bolt often the collar position is obscured by mesh, particularly where the sheets overlap
at the edges);
some operators rotate during bolt advance while others do not commence rotation until the bolt is at
the end of the borehole;
lack of control on the advance rate down the borehole; and

lack of control on spin and hold times.
FIG 20 - Unmixed resin at hole toe is an indication of overdrilling.
The phenomenon of gloving (Mould et al, 2004) is most prevalent when the annulus between the
borehole and the element is excessive. However, if the borehole size is decreased, this often means that
the rotational resistance to spinning increases and causes other problems. For example, either
premature break out of the drive nut occurs or the anti-jam mechanism of the jumbo is activated. Both
of these events results in an improperly installed bolt that must be replaced.
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With so many parameters subject to variation, the observed variation in the quality of bolt
installation is not surprising. The proper implementation of resin bolts therefore requires a fully
integrated approach that critically examines in detail the components of the system, the equipment used
for installation and the procedures used for installation. It is anticipated that either standard procedures
need to be developed and enforced or more suitable automated equipment is required.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Rock bolts with one pass of installation have been identified as a critical component of the cycle for
rapid development. Existing methods of quality assessment (ie routine pull testing of a selected small
sample of bolts) are often inadequate in determining the quality of load transfer at the critical end of the
bolt deeper in the borehole. The WASM overcoring procedure allows for the detailed examination of
bolts in relation to the recovered core and it is possible to relate the measured load transfer to the
visually assessed condition of the mechanism used for load transfer.
The performance of installed resin anchored rock bolts has been examined in detail by the Rock
Mechanics Research Group at the WA School of Mines. The results show that the quality of the resin
mix varies along the length of the bolt. The results also show that often the bolt is gloved by the plastic
packaging. When this occurs, the resin is observed to be mostly improperly mixed and the resin product
is partially cured and of low strength. One method of improving the consistency of resin anchored bolt
performance in the short term is the development and use of standard installation procedures. In the
longer term, the development and use of specialised equipment is required.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial assistance of the CRCMining in supporting the work of the WASM Rock Mechanics
Group is gratefully acknowledged.
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82

Some Ground Support Considerations in Rapid Excavation

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Some Ground Support Considerations in Rapid Excavation

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E Villaescusa , A Thompson and C Windsor

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Australian Mining Technology Conference

E VILLAESCUSA, A THOMPSON and C WINDSOR

FIG 1 - Excessive number of rock bolts due to meshing requirements.

Australian Mining Technology Conference